Valtteri Filppula scores twice in third period to lead Red Wings over Blues, 4-2

AP PhotoDetroit's Henrik Zetterberg battles for a loose puck with St. Louis' Paul Kariya on Wednesday night.DETROIT -- Henrik Zetterberg’s line drove the bus for the third
consecutive game for the Detroit Red Wings, but they still needed some
puck luck on a night when they weren’t operating on a full tank of gas.

Valtteri
Filppula benefited from a fortuitous bounce to snap a tie with 6:49
remaining in the third period Wednesday, and the Red Wings went on to
defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at Joe Louis Arena.

The line of
Zetterberg, Filppula and Todd Bertuzzi accounted for all four goals and
12 of the team’s 24 shots. The trio has combined for 10 goals and 20
points in the past three games.

Still, the Red Wings needed a solid
30-save performance from Jimmy Howard, who won his 30th game, and
another strong effort from their penalty-killers to win their third
consecutive game and open up a four-point lead over the Calgary Flames
for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“Howie is the
guy that kept us in the game,’’ Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.
“Tonight was probably the toughest game we’ve had in a while. We didn’t
have much energy, mentally and physically. But the guys dug in and
found a way to win.’’

The winning goal developed out of a
harmless-looking rush by Brian Rafalski, who skated the puck from
behind his net to center ice and dumped it in at goaltender Ty Conklin.
The puck bounced off Conklin and too far away for him to control the
rebound. Filppula, with his speed, beat the Blues defense to corral it
and flip it into the net.

“Those bounces are always tough. Nobody
really knows where the puck’s going,’’ Filppula said. “Luckily, I was
able to be first. On those goals, you always need a little luck, too.’’

Conklin, the former Red Wing, felt he was caught in no man’s land.

“It
was part indecision and part … I’m trying not to back up and get eaten
up by it,’’ Conklin said. “I can’t get up there and catch it in the
air. I tried to position myself so it bounces up in my stomach, but
then it hits in the front of my pad. It took a bounce I didn’t like.’’

Said
Rafalski: “I didn’t have anything outside so I tried to flip it in on
the goalie. I was trying to get it close, make sure it bounced before.’’

Howard, making his 20th consecutive start, is 30-15-9. Babcock said he will start again Friday at home against Minnesota.

“It
(30 wins) is great, but it comes with the team playing well in front of
me,’’ Howard said. “It’s definitely not something I see as an
individual stat.’’

After their team’s sluggish first period,
Zetterberg and Bertuzzi scored 4:09 apart early in the second to give
the Red Wings a 2-1 lead.

Zetterberg scored his 23rd goal, tying him
for the team lead with Pavel Datsyuk, at the 26-second mark. He skated
through center ice with the puck, cut around defenseman Barret Jackman
and shoveled a one-handed shot that slipped through Conklin’s five-hole.

Bertuzzi
was in the right place at the right time, in the crease, when
Zetterberg swatted the puck into the net off of the big winger’s right
leg at 4:35 to make it 2-1.

“I got high-sticked (cut over left eye),
so I was more worried about my eye than what was going on,’’ Bertuzzi
said. “I was just standing there, trying to create some room and it
went off my back foot and in the net.’’

The Blues, who opened the
scoring after Paul Kariya used a burst of speed to split Nicklas
Lidstrom and Rafalski and beat Howard through his five-hole on a
breakaway, couldn’t capitalize on a four-minute power play when Brad
Stuart was whistled for high-sticking midway through the second period.

But
they tied it at 2-2 at 2:05 of the third period when Jay McClement
pulled up just above the faceoff circle and fired a hard wrist shot
through Stuart’s skates that sailed under Howard’s raised glove.

“I went up with my glove and it dipped and went under,’’ Howard said.

It
was a tough break for the Red Wings and gave St. Louis some momentum.
Until Filppula snapped the tie, which prompted Blues forward David
Backes to remark: “Those kind of plays are the reason the Detroit Red
Wings are in the playoffs every year.”